Butler County talks election preparations

On Monday, Butler County Commissioners heard from County Clerk Ron Roberts who gave an update on his department’s preparations for this year’s upcoming elections.

Roberts said County Administrator Will Johnson had asked him to address some concerns for the commissioners. He acknowledged that electronic polling machines like the ones purchased by the county a few years ago have been the target of public media scrutiny as of late.

Jon Pic

On Monday, Butler County Commissioners heard from County Clerk Ron Roberts who gave an update on his department’s preparations for this year’s upcoming elections.

“I really don’t have anything Earth-shattering,” Roberts said. “I just wanted to discuss where we’re at with a few things.”

Roberts said County Administrator Will Johnson had asked him to address some concerns for the commissioners. He acknowledged that electronic polling machines like the ones purchased by the county a few years ago have been the target of public media scrutiny as of late.

“I did do a little research to see what I could find out and relate that to what we do,” Roberts said.

Roberts said some states like California and Colorado have declassified some or all of the electronic machines previously in use, leading to potential snags in the election process.

“Why did they do that?” asked Commission Vice Chair Jeff Masterson, who led the day’s meeting in lieu of Chair Dan Woydziak. “Is there a problem with these electronic machines?”

“The Democrats seem to think there are,” Roberts said.

“I don’t understand,” Masterson said. “Is there tampering?”

“They want there to be a paper trail, correct?” interjected Assistant County Administrator Mark Detter, who was acting in the absence of Johnson. “There could be a programming error.”

Roberts said the proper calibration of the machines can be an issue; sometimes the machines are jarred during transport to polling sites and need to be re-calibrated to ensure that the touch screens are responding accurately. He said machines are now programmed and re-calibrated at the same time, to guarantee precision.

The county is using iVotronic machines from Election Systems and Software (ES&S), the same company that has come under fire in California and reportedly has particular programming issues that make it susceptible to hacking.

“Almost all the issues that I can see from reading the problems they’re having in other places,” Roberts told the commission, “it pretty much boils down … it’s not the equipment that’s bad, it’s just little errors that you make when you program it.”

Roberts said he spoke with Kansas Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh and his election staff to determine whether the machines were in danger of being declassified in Kansas.

“I think we’re good to go,” Roberts said. “I don’t know that I can promise you it’ll be a one-hundred percent error-free election, but I’m going to try to have it as close as possible.”

He also wanted to give a heads-up on the upcoming changes to some of the county’s polling sites to help with efficiency. Currently the county has 41 polling sites, but Roberts is looking to drop that number to 36, putting more machines in each of those spots.

“I can run a whole lot more people through nine machines in one location than I can three machines in several locations,” Roberts said. “And I’m going to put out more machines than I’ve ever put out before.”

For El Dorado, Roberts is looking to put polling sites in locations that can accommodate heavier traffic and aren’t adverse to having voters walk in and out all day – like schools. Roberts plans to use the Civic Center, El Dorado Senior Center, St. John’s Catholic Church and Trinity United Methodist Church. At one time, there were 11 polling sites in El Dorado.

Commissioner Will Carpenter asked that, in addition to mailers that will inform voters of the new site locations, signs be placed at the old spots to help corral voters to the right place.

“I can tell you right now, there’s no doubt in my mind, they’re going to go where they voted last time,” Carpenter said. “Everybody that votes there is not going to see that letter. There need to be some advertising on that poll site. I just know how people are.”

In addition to the presidential elections this year, the terms will expire for all the county offices, including two Butler County Commissioners, Carpenter and Randy Waldorf.

Primaries, which will include the Butler County sheriff, clerk, attorney, treasurer, register of deeds, as well as Kansas and U.S. Congress, will be held on Aug. 5. The national presidential election will occur on Nov. 4.

“The really heavy voting years occur when there’s no incumbent president,” Roberts said. “Both parties think they have a good shot at it and this election has had so much publicity for so long. Based on the turnout for the caucuses, we’re expecting a bumper year for voters.”

Roberts also said he’s looking for people with computer experience to train as voting machine technicians for the upcoming elections, a part-time contract position he said might be a good fit for a recently retired person.